Scouring-machine.



PATENTED OCT. 10

. RUPLEY.

SCOURING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Inventor,

Geor H.Rup|eg.

. 5: 4 gill/H .W"

No. 801,403. PATENTED OCT.10, 1905. G. H. RUPLEY.

SCOURING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1904.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. RUPLEY, OF SOHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GEN- ERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SCOURlNG-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1905.

Application filed November 28, 1904. Serial No. 234,456.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. RUPLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Scouring Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art of scouring metal and other surfaces by applying thereto abrasive substances under pressure and causing relative movement between the surface and the substances.

More specifically, my invention pertains to the scouring or cleaning of wire to be used as an electrical conductor, although it is neither limited as to the nature nor the function of the surface to be acted upon.

My invention was made with the view to overcoming certain difiiculties which arose in connection with the insulation of electrical conductors by what is known as a film or enameling process. Briefly stated, this process consists in passing the conductor through a solution of a compound specially prepared from linseed -oil and hardening the coating thereby formed upon the conductor. The result is a smooth, tough, and flexible insulation which has proved to be very eflicient, but which sometimes does not maintain high insulation from causes which my invention is designed to remove. It is found upon examination of the defective conductors that the surface of the insulation had been broken by small particles or, slivers of metal adhering to the conductor and passing through the insulating-film and that while some of the protruding particles were small they would still offer opportunities for short-circuit and lower the safety of the insulation, besides making larger breaks in the insulating-surface as soon as pressure was applied thereto. It was moreover found that the metallic oxid which formed on and clung to the conductor also had a tendency toward rendering the insulation imperfect. My invention overcomes these difliculties by providing a convenient and eflicient means for scouring the surface before the coating is applied, and while I have shown a particular construction whereby my invention may be carried out -I do not confine myself thereto beyond the limitations expressed in the claims appended and forming a part of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my device, and Fig. 2 shows a modified form.

Referring to Fig. 1, 1 represents a rigid casing, preferably of metal, and provided at its ends with caps 2 2, which may be screwed or otherwise secured to the casing. 3 is atube of flexible material, such as rubber, to the ends of which the sleeves 4: I are secured, preferably by expanding the tube over the sleeve andbindingittightly,asshown. These sleeves are secured to the caps 2 2 by some meansas, for instance by soldering-thereby forming an air-tight space between the outer tube 1 and the inner tube 3. The outer ends of the sleeves are provided with the caps 5 5, also preferably secured by screw-threads. These caps are apertured sufliciently to allow the strip to be scoured to pass freely therethrough. A packing-space is left between the end of the sleeve and the cap 5, which may be filled with felt or other material to prevent the escape of any of the contents of tube 3. The tube is filled with some granular abrasive material, as sand or emery. The outer casing is provided with a passage 6, which may be either a rigid or a flexible tube, for an elastic fluid under pressure, as air or water. The pressure-gage 7 is preferably provided that the pressure of the fluid may be noted. In a device of this character a certain amount of leakage from the space between the casings 1 and 3 and a consequent loss of pressure therein would naturally be expected. This loss is provided against by allowing the working fluid to leak through passage 6 and providing an automatic valve 15 to maintain a constant pressure by permitting the escape of'the excess fluid. In Fig. 1 I have shown my device as fixed in brackets 13 and 1 1.

In the practical working of my device it has frequently been found that particles or slivers are so positioned upon the wire that movement through the scouring substance in one direction will not always remove them. In Fig. 2 is shown a device for overcoming this difliculty. In this figure the casing 16 and all parts connected therewith are the same as in Fig. 1, with the exception that the casing has no shoulders for rigidly supporting it in brackets, but is slidably mounted in the sleeves 17 and 18 of bracket 19. Apitman 20, having one end pivoted to casing 16 and the other to a crank-disk 21, driven in any suitable manner, as by a belt 22, serves to give a reciprocatory movement to the casing. The spool 23, from which the wire is drawn, is provided with a brake 24 to maintain a tension on the wire as the casingis moved away from the spool.

The operation is as follows: Wire 8 is drawn from the spool 11 over sheaves 9, through the sand or emery within the casing 3, over sheave 10, and again wound on the spool 12. Meanwhile a pressure is applied at the inlet 6, which causes the material within the tube 3 to exert a pressure upon the wire which is proportional to the pressure exerted by the fluid. This pressure of course may be varied as desired.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A wire-scouring machine comprising a scouringsubstance, means for leading the wire therethrough, and means for applying a pressure to said substance radial to said Wire.

2. A wire-scouring machine comprising a scouring substance, means for moving the wire therethrough, and means for applying a pressure to said substance and transmitting the same uniformly over the surface of the wire.

3. Ascouring-machine comprisingacasing, an abrasive material within the same, and means for causing a uniform pressure to be exerted throughout said abrasive substance.

4. A scouring-machine comprising a rigid casing, a flexible casing Within the same, an abrasive material within said casing, and means for causing a uniformly-distributed pressure to be exerted upon said material.

5. A scouring-machine comprising a rigid casing, a relatively yielding casing Within the same, means for causing pressure to be exerted between said casings, and an abrasive substance within said yielding casing.

serene 6. In a scouring-machine, the combination of a rigid casing and scouring means within the same, said means comprising a flexible casing having therein an abrasive substance, and means for causing pressure to be exerted upon said casin 7. A scouring-machine comprising a rigid casing, a flexible casing within the same, a granular abrasive substance within said latter casing, and means for causing a uniformlydistributed pressure to be exerted upon said substance.

8. A scouring-machine comprising a rigid casing, a flexible casing within the same, a granular abrasive substance within said latter casing, means for causing a uniformly-distributed pressure to be exerted upon said substance; and means for passing the body to be scoured through the substance.

9. A scouring-machine comprising a rigid casing, a flexible casing within the same, an abrasive substance within said latter casing, and means for causing an elastic-fluid pressure to be exerted upon said flexible casing.

r 10. A scouring-machine comprising a rigid casing, a flexible casing within the same, an abrasive substance within said latter casing, means for causing an elastic-fluid pressure to be exerted upon said latter casing, and means for passing the body to be secured through the substance.

11. Means fol-scouring wires comprisingan abrasive, a contractile container therefor, means for leading the wire through the abrasive, and means for applying inward pressure to the container radial to the wire.

in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of November, 1904:.

GEORGE H. RUPLEY.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN B. HULL, HELEN ORFORD. 

